The invention relates generally to the field of carts used for supermarkets and the like, and is directed particularly to a new and novel nestable cart having side panels, each side panel having opposed edges which are parallel (e.g., rectangular side panels).
The grocery carts of the prior art generally have a basket design wherein the bottom of the basket is tapered upwardly, the top of the basket is tapered downwardly, the pivotable connected rear gate is slanted forward from a vertical position, and the side panels are tapered inwardly. Accordingly, the side panels of this prior art design are in the form of a trapezium. This trapezium design provides a basket whose forward side portion is narrower than its rear side portion. Such an irregular side panel design, however, was necessary to permit nesting of one cart with the next forward cart. That is, the narrower forward portion of the cart can easily fit within the rear portion of the next forward cart. The slant of the rear gate was also necessary so that the gate would not contact the upwardly tapered bottom panel while the gate was being pivoted upwardly during nesting.
The trapezium design, however, produces a cart which has limited space due, in part, to the inward slant of the rear gate. To rectify this, the prior art carts have been modified to have deeper baskets. Concomitant with this design modification is the inconvenience to shoppers or store employees by requiring them to bend over farther to remove items from the bottom of the basket.
The construction of a basket having more cubic capacity has become more necessary in recent years with the purchasing of larger quentities of items. The following, for example, has led to the purchasing of larger quantities by shoppers in recent years: (1) the scarcity and higher cost of fuel has resulted in fewer trips with higher purchases per trip; (2) the sale of prepackaged goods which require more space; and (3) bulk purchases in an attempt to compensate for the impact of rising food costs. In addition, the concept of one-store shopping whereby all household, appliances, clothing and gardening needs are being purchased at a particular store has added to the demand for larger shopping carts having more capacity.
The design consideration incident to the construction of a larger or deeper basket, however, has also dictated the necessity of utilizing a nesting feature. The use of the larger wheeled cart baskets without a nesting feature requires so much space that it is virtually impractical in most stores since space is an obvious factor. Utilizing the trapezium side panel design to permit nesting, however, while compensating for its concomitant reduced capacity has resulted in a deeper basket with the burden on shoppers and cashiers to bend down farther to remove items from the basket. Consequently, the prior art carts, in order to reduce storage space, have relied upon the trapezium side panel design for permitting nesting while concomitantly providing a deeper basket to achieve the same cubic capacity inherently lost by the trapezium design.
The instant invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art designs by providing a basket whose side panels are rectangular while still permitting the carts to be nested. The volume of space lost within the cart by making the sides an irregular shape (i.e., trapezium), means that it is necessary to have a deeper basket than would be required if the side panels were rectangular. As will be shown in the following specification, if a basket having a rectangular shaped side panel and a trapezium basket are of the same maximum height overall, the overall bottom of the rectangular basket can be farther from the floor while providing increased capacity.
Although the invention utilizes side panels wherein each panel has opposed edges which are parallel (e.g., rectangular), nesting is obtained, nevertheless, through the use of a new and novel structure for latching whereby the basket is maintained in a horizontal position during use and automatically rotated to a predetermined upper position during nesting. In this manner, the forward portion of the basket can be nested within the rear portion of the next forward basket. While certain over-the-counter designed shopping carts utilize the feature of pivoting a rectangular basket from a horizontal to a vertical position during nesting, these baskets aren't received within the next forward basket. Consequently, storage space is lost due to incomplete nesting. On the other hand, where nesting is more complete the shape of the basket has been modified to permit nesting; this has inherently resulted in the capacity of the basket being sacrificed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,116 shows a nestable shopping cart where the basket can be rotated from a horizontal position to a vertical position. The bottom of the basket, however, is downwardly tapered (i.e., trapezoidal) so that it can fit within the upper portion of the next forward basket. Due to tapering, consequently, this cart must be designed to have a deeper basket to compensate for its reduced capacity resulting in an inconvenience to shoppers. Furthermore, the '116 design requires the basket to be manually rotated to its position for nesting, resulting in a further inconvenience to shoppers.